Ack! My ACK!

>Am wondering if there's a design flaw in the ACK E-01 ELT or just an anomaly?
>
>Our unit went off by itself today because the battery in the remote panel
>mount
>indicator died, triggering the ELT, and I'd like to know if anyone else
>has had
>this happen?

I haven't heard of this before but will check any ACK ELT in any aircraft I
inspect. However I thought that regardless of the battery replacement date on
an ACK ELT transmitter that the batteries still had to be replaced every two
years regardless. Am I wrong. If I am right then replacing the transmitter
and remote batteries at the same time would keep that problem from happening.

Have you ever had problems with battery leakage in an ACK ELT. I have heard of
a number of cases.

John Dupre'

mikeremlap@.org.net (MikeremlaP) wrote in message news:<20030709000927.24634.00000061@mb-m01.>...
> Am wondering if there's a design flaw in the ACK E-01 ELT or just an anomaly?
> Our unit went off by itself today because the battery in the remote panel mount
> indicator died, triggering the ELT, and I'd like to know if anyone else has had
> this happen?

Ack-Ack! You sure drew the flak!

Your posting is really useful. One would have to guess that this
is at least a design oversight... com'on, Jim & defenders, having
the remote battery die set off the thing can't be considered good
practice!

At any rate, thanks for posting. Since the intervals for the main
batterys and the remote are different, it's easy to get messed up.
As the consequence isn't good, I'm going to make a habit of replacing
the remote every time I replace the main D-cells which is a fairly
long interval.

If everyone took this position, some ugly future AD might be avoided.

Thanks for the post, Mike. A good use of the Internet!! Bill Hale
--whose flashlights runneth over with NOS D-cells.

ps: Now where do we find the little li cells?
>

>At any rate, thanks for posting. Since the intervals for the main
>batterys and the remote are different, it's easy to get messed up.
>As the consequence isn't good, I'm going to make a habit of replacing
>the remote every time I replace the main D-cells which is a fairly
>long interval.

Actually, you may want to do this the other way around. Duracell D batteries
are living longer and longer - I installed new main batteries in the ELT this
year that expire in 5 years. Whereas the Alkaline remote battery I installed is
supposed to be replaced every 4 years according to ACK. (And I plan to replace
ours every two, to avoid this problem again, especially since there's no
expiration date on the remote battery, and we don't know how long it's been
sitting on the store shelf.)

The problem is, hardly anyone ever sees the expiration sticker on the remote
(and we DON'T want the FAA mandating that we have yet another sticker on the
panel). It's the sticker on the main unit that usually triggers our memory -
and the one mechanics look at.

So it seems the better practice would be to lower the expiration date of your
main batteries to two years, and leave a note on your ELT sticker reminding you
that there is also a battery in the remote that needs replacing.

Hope this helps,

Mike Palmer <><
Excellence in Ergonomics